


aint no kind of pertty

by rangerdanger985



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Comfort No Hurt, Fluff, Funny, M/M, camp shinanigans, like one F bomb i think, little bit of cussing but Sean is here so meh, the most gen thing i have ever writen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 06:34:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29327877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rangerdanger985/pseuds/rangerdanger985
Summary: it was a calm night, the gang hanging around drinking and talking and enjoying the air.Arthur sat sketching by the fire, mind wondering to things than he didn't quite understand, to dark tangled hair and squared jaw.what happens when the owners of these features find him?or:I'm bad a summaries and wanted to finish a soft thing, enjoy!
Relationships: John Marston/Arthur Morgan
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18





	aint no kind of pertty

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all can blame the RDR: safe haven for this, a quick lil thing that was sitting in my WIPs pile for a few months until a conversation with some friends.  
> hope y'all enjoy!  
> RD

It was a calm night.

Or well as calm as a night ever got in a camp full of wanted men and women.

Horseshoe overlook had been a stroke of luck and peace that they all needed after the mountain, and with Sean back in camp, it was almost like old times again.

Everyone was settling into a new kind of normal and even john was back on his feet again for the most part if that train robbery was anything to go by. Arthur was sitting by the fire as early evening settled over the camp, a few of them were drinking, Sean had obviously started that.

Damn Irishman rarely even didn’t have a drink in his hand, young and foolish and high on life in a way Arthur hadn’t been for years, time having calmed him, along with the remains of a hangover and waking up in jail alongside Lenny, who was himself also avoiding the drink, a few days previous.

Smart kid that one.

Arthur's journal was open on his lap while his legs were stretched out, alone at the fire, for the time being, he was smoking, half paying attention to the relaxed chatter of the camp and half focused on the dark lines taking shape on his pages.

A squared jaw and squinted eyes, quirked lips with just the hint of teeth, more a threat to bite than a smile and dark strands of tangled hair, the easy line of scars over stubbled skin.

John Marston took shape on the page with a gentleness his sketches usually lacked, he didn’t quite understand that, the softness he had for the younger man, it caught him off guard at the strangest times.

Not unlike the man himself usually did, as he did now.

“whatcha got there Morgan?” Arthur glanced up at john while closing the book around the stub of his pencil, hiding the sketch “nuthin important” john had a bottle of whisky in his hand sipping from it while looking at Arthur.

He took a moment to look at the younger man himself before turning away to get some coffee from the pot beside the fire, he had recovered nicely from his injuries, the stitches removed from his face and most of the pink faded from his eye.

Now if he would just take a bath, he might be half ways to handsome.

Arthur was glad John was at his back when that thought struck him because he felt his eyes widen and his face flush, damn near fumbling the coffee bot as he filled his mug.

“if it weren’t nuthin important ya’d let us see it” john said, obviously bored as he flopped onto the log Arthur had been leaning against. “now why would I want any a y’er grubby hands on my journal?” Arthur glanced at the man in vague amusement before sipping the stale and burnt coffee.

Probably needed to be dumped out and remade for the night guards shift but he didn’t particularly feel like doing it.

Bill could do it when he came back from rotation.

“ah come on Arthur” the dark-haired man leaned closer, almost leaning on Arthur's shoulder “I just wanna lil peek” he reached for the book and Arthur held it out away from him “not on your life Marston” he replied, easily keeping it away from the younger and smaller man.

Realizing he couldn’t just reach out and take the book the man pouted, returning to his seat, and sipping from his bottle.

Setting down his coffee Arthur watched the younger from the corner of his eye, studying him while pulling the book back into his lap, opening it and adding a few more details to the sketch but also keeping it out of john’s sight.

The man would never let him live it down if he knew Arthur was sketching him always used to tease him in their earlier days when they didn’t have quite a large bounty hanging over all their heads.

“ya know I’m jus gonna keep pesterin ya right?” john asked, eyes slipping between the book's cover and Arthur's dropped gaze.

Arthur hummed, only half paying attention as he frowned at the man's nose, not quite drawing it right and having to erase it to get it right “I’ll just add it to the list shall I?” he questioned as he was finally satisfied with the angle of the feature.

Shifting the page just enough he scribbled out a quick note to himself ‘Marston’s lucky he’s pretty’ he wrote, half glancing at the man who was chugging from his bottle, a drop of whisky sliding down from the side of his mouth and catching the light of the fire before the man wiped it away.

‘don’t think I’d deal with half his shit if he weren’t’ looking back at the sketch he furrowed his brows, the eyebrows not sitting quite right “what do I ever pester ya about?” john questioned, seeming genuinely curious for a moment.

“pends on the day” Arthur muttered, scowling at the lines of charcoal on the page, the hair not sitting quite right even though he had liked it fine only minutes ago.

Probably because the real-life Marston was beside him and was now leaning on him again.

Before he could react, the man dropped his bottle and reached out, hands grasping the journal and yanking it from Arthur's lap.

Arthur spun around “ya lil shit” she cursed but Marston was already scowling at the page lips twisted in something like distaste and Arthur suddenly felt his belly shrink, heart hammering in his chest and jumping up to his throat, palms sweating with something almost like fear.

“The fuck is this Morgan” John turned to look at him, brows furrowed and expression pinched “ya don’t I don’t look like this” he closed the book and held it out “an I ain’t no kind of pretty neither”

Realization struck him like an angry goat, knocking the wind out of him for a moment as he realized John’s distaste wasn’t for anything Arthur had done, if there was one thing the two of them shared it was a self-depreciation streak as large as the Dakota river.

And probably twice as deep

There were several ways he could react to this, he could brush it off, he could make the entire thing a joke, pick at John’s insecurity, make him tougher for it but less likely to share his thoughts with Arthur. Or. . .

Or he could be honest.

He weren’t no honest man, not usually but, he could probably be honest about this.

Sitting back onto the log he took the journal back, looking down to open it back to the right page “yeah well” he trailed off, and turned the journal so john could see the page if he chose to look “I put the world I sees in this book and that’s the way I see’s ya, I ain’t one for lyin bout that”

John snorted into the quiet, the noises of camp just seeming to fade away into the night “ya lie all the time” john waved a dismissive hand taking a drink from his whisky which surprisingly wasn’t empty yet.

“Not in here, bout this I don’t” he motioned at the book, now sitting closed on his knee before leaning over and bumping John’s shoulder with his own, the younger swaying with the movement “not about you”

John looked up the firelight catching in his eyes and making them look less grey and more bronze, his lips still wet from the whisky.

Arthur's eyes didn’t know where to settle, flicking across the youngers face to take in the details, the scars, and the stubble growth, the sunburn staining his cheeks, made worse by a slowly rising blush.

So many thoughts were rushing through his head and he couldn’t pin any of them down, didn’t quite know what he wanted to say or what he wanted to do, never had he despised his weakness with words quite as much as he did in that moment.

He opened his mouth to say something but a sudden shout from across the camp silenced him “jus fookin kiss ‘im English!” Arthur's head spun around glaring in Sean’s direction to see him lounging by Dutch’s tent, making him realize exactly why the camp had gone silent.

They were all watching him and john, at least they had been, now they were looking at Sean and telling him to shut up, Hosea going as far as to walk over and smack the back of his head “fuck you say boy?!” he demanded as the Irishman rubbed his head.

“ya both been dancing round each other for weeks! Even before them damned mountains you did, so why don’t ya just kiss ‘im and stop talkin ‘im ta death!”

John shot up from the log and moved to flee the scene, face glowing with the intensity of his blush “leave the man alone Sean” Lenny said from the table “you know the man ain’t got no talent with kissin” Arthur's brow twitched with annoyance.

“I’ll show ya kissin” he said, jumping to his feet and turning towards John’s fleeing back “aye Marston!” he called and quickly caught up to the man as he faltered grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around.

“Morgan” the man started but fell silent as Arthur slid his arms around the smaller, yanking him close and kissing him with a suborn fierceness he hadn’t felt before.

John froze up for a moment before falling slack, hands sliding up Arthur's back and fisting in his shirt under his jacket, humming happily even as the intensity of the kiss bowed him backward, Arthur ending up holding him as if he had just dipped the younger man while dancing.

Hearing the hum Arthur himself relaxed into the kiss, his grip changing from clutching to supporting one hand leaving the youngers shoulder to tangle in already messy hair.

He wasn’t quite sure whose lips parted first, only that the kiss deepened and he could taste the whisky on John’s tongue as they tangled, stubble scratching at Arthur's skin in a pleasant kind of friction that made his belly feel warm.

Slowly he rightened the man, pulling back and gasping for air, staring at John’s face, and watching as his eyes opened to peer at him, heads resting together and speechless from just how good it felt to kiss john Marston.

But the moment didn’t last long as someone whistled.

The shrill sound had both their heads turning to see the entire camp looking at them, grinning and whistling and laughing, even Abigail was smirking and covering jack’s eyes although the child was peeking through her fingers.

“Alright everyone” Hosea’s voice made them shut up and look at the old man who held a stack of bills in his hands “who put their money on these idiots not getting over themselves without interference?” the hands of Pearson, Javier, Charles and Abigail went up and the man counted out the money in his hands.

Most of the money at least, he kept a few bills for himself.

Hearing john sigh Artur looked down to see the man dip his head forward to rest on his chest, trying to hide from the camp “course they made a fuckin bet”

Blinking in confusion Arthur looked at the closest member to them who just so happened to be Charles “who longs this bet been going on?” he roughed out and the calm man looked at him, lifting a brow before smirking “since before I joined the gang”

“seriously Hosea?!” he looked at the older man who was now smoking “don’t blame us that your both dense as fools”

John suddenly stepped back and Arthur looked down, worried for a moment that it was too much for the man to handle until he looked past the embarrassed flush of his skin to the dazzling smile on his face, lips parted just enough to show the hints of teeth.

He grabbed Arthur's arm and yanked, pulling him away from the rest of the gang who started whistling again and then further into the trees until finally, he stopped, letting go of Arthur to start laughing.

The laughter was contagious because of course, this was how things went for them, and Arthur felt himself start laughing along, reaching out to pull Marston back into his chest.

“I still ain’t no kind of pertty” john laughed and Arthur snorted, stepping forward to press john against a tree, pinning him in with his arms “yeah” he drawled as the shorter man leaned back against the tree and looked up at him “an I ain’t got no issue tellin ya just how pertty I think ya is”

John started to sputter, color rising in his cheeks only to once again be silenced by Arthur's lips.

No further arguments were made that night.


End file.
